her old Saturday afternoon routine.
* * *
By the next night, Emily had caught up on most of the work she’d wanted to get done. Her mistake had been taking a quick break and checking the entertainment sites for more stories about the awards show. As she sat in bed with her laptop in front of her, she could only stare at the front page of Wally Hood Goes Hollywood.
C-Samp’s Steamy Love Triangle?
Well, well, well. Looks like Cory Sampson had a very, ah, busy weekend. After attending the kids’ choice awards show we reported about yesterday with whom he purports to be his new main squeeze, Emily Watts, he was spotted with her at Katsuya. A few people who were dining nearby say they were hanging onto each other’s words, and as we’ve come to expect from these two, they shared a few kisses in plain view of everyone.
So what was Cory doing cozying up to ex Cady Sugarman on Saturday night in Orange County? According to friends, the two spent several hours sitting closely together and catching up while at a backyard party. The better question might be where Cady’s boyfriend, Alex Perry, was at, since he’s usually glued to her side.
Are C-Samp and Lil Sugah re-kindling their romance? Where does the Em-Girl stand? If it were up to us, Cory, we’d go with Emily. After all, she hasn’t yet ripped your heart out of your chest or cheated on you with her drummer. Chances are good she won’t, either, unless she’s also planning to launch a singing career. That said, we’re making an early call for Team Emily. Let’s hope this was a friendly post-breakup catch-up and nothing more.
Emily gave her head a shake and moved her eyes back up to the top of the article to read it again. She paused on the words “cozying up” and had to look away from the screen.
This was a tabloid column, she reminded herself. So what if Cory’s ex-girlfriend had been at the same barbecue and they’d talked? She was pretty sure that at least once in her life, she’d been at the same party as an ex-boyfriend and had stopped to say hello. The difference was, she wasn’t famous. Or at least she hadn’t been at the time.
She turned her head to look at her alarm clock and saw it was nearly midnight. Thinking that Cory’s rehearsal might have finished by now, she picked up her phone and dialed his number, letting it ring until she heard his voicemail greeting.
Guess he’s still rehearsing, she thought, hanging up the phone. She closed her laptop and set it down on the floor beside her bed. Settling back against her pillows, she pulled her duvet over her and decided to close her screen-weary eyes while she waited for him to call, like he’d promised he would.
The sound of her text alert woke her up a while later. She reached over to the bedside table for her phone.
Hey love, heading back from rehearsal now. I’ll call you tomorrow, I promise.
The message was from Cory. She looked at the time on her phone. It was three a.m.
Her fingers made clumsy by sleep, she fumbled to type a reply. You can call me now if you want to. I’m awake.
She yawned and stretched her arms above her head while she waited for his response. A few minutes passed before her text alert sounded again. I’ll call you tomorrow. Sleep well.
Groggy, she inched to the side of her bed and reached over to turn the lamp on. Blinking in the sudden brightness, she sat up and opened the calendar on her phone so she could text him back with a good time to call her.
Her calendar reminded her she had four hours of late morning and afternoon meeting calls lined up with advertisers and editors the next day. That left early morning and a half-hour here and there between more calls in the afternoon for getting actual work done.
By the time she was finished work for the day, she knew Cory would already be at Swinghouse for a studio session he’d mentioned having with his friend Luke. Unless he called her between her meetings, that meant she would probably be on the receiving end of another late-night text apologizing for not calling her.
She looked at her phone, deciding she would call him anyway. The phone rang three times. Four times. Five. Finally, she heard a click and his voicemail greeting. This is Cory. Leave a message.
“Hey,” she